The caravan that formed up outside of Glarn was far larger than Verdan had wanted it to be and he felt a headache coming on as he saw it all stretched out on the road.
Some of it was a last-minute addition, specifically the Clan Menteith representatives at the rear of the group, but they weren’t even a third of those present.
No, the single largest group was the Clan Mhorgain volunteers, who were coming south with Dirk to establish themselves in Hobson’s Point.
Add in the full complement of Thearns for each of the three Chosen, four if he counted Dirk, and it was no wonder they were up to almost four hundred people, and that wasn’t even including the Fwyn and Brecan.
“Looks like we’re finally all here,” Kai said, coming over to join Verdan at the head of the long column.
“Looks like it,” Verdan said, turning and lifting a hand to catch the eye of the outriders, who were waiting nearby. “Are you ready for us to move?”
“At your word, Wizard,” Pathfinder Galstar replied softly, her voice just loud enough to carry to him.
The Thane had been quite generous in making sure they had everything they needed to head south, to the point that he’d assigned the Pathfinder, as well as a dozen scouts, over to Verdan.
Elspeth Galstar had been at Dunkirn with Verdan and the others, and Verdan had a feeling that part of her assignment here was in gratitude to his enchanted arrows, which had saved her life.
From what Verdan understood of the strange makeup of the Kranjir forces, Pathfinders were equivalent to Blades in seniority, but they stood apart from both Thearns and shieldguards.
Verdan was looking forward to seeing them in action, especially in a setting where they weren’t being thrown into a series of ambushes in enemy-infested woods with bad information.
Giving the Pathfinder a nod, Verdan clambered aboard his wagon and gave the order to get moving as the dozen scouts rode ahead.
They were reasonably safe this deep into Clan Thrain’s territory, but with everything else that had happened, it seemed prudent to start as they meant to carry on.
-**-
The caravan retraced the original route that Verdan and the others had followed for the first few days.
Once they left the lands of Clan Thrain, they stayed in one of the small fortified camps that were dotted along the path to the south.
Last time, the camps had been entirely empty and abandoned.
This time, however, there was already a small detachment of shieldguards and scouts present.
The Lieutenant assigned to run the camp explained his command had been sent to secure the area and provide advance warning of any large threats.
The last few evenings had been filled with minor issues and tasks, but now that they were firmly underway, Verdan decided it was time to implement his teaching schedule.
“Barb, do you mind letting Dirk, Osran, Ciaran, and Maeve know I want to talk with them?” Verdan asked once they’d finished their evening meal.
Moving over to a nearby fire pit, Verdan took a seat and mulled over just how he wanted to get all this going.
“You wanted to speak to me, Master?” Dirk asked, being the first to arrive.
“Yes, I’ve been giving some thought to what else you need to know and I’ve decided to teach you Low Imperial. You’ll need it to speak with the Fwyn.”
“Are we beginning tonight?” Dirk asked, a little more excited than Verdan had expected.
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“Yes, but I will need to speak with the others first, so it won’t be immediately.”
“In that case, would you be willing to teach one other as well?” Dirk asked hesitantly.
“Who do you have in mind?” Verdan asked, a little surprised by the question.
“Well, I was speaking with Hursk earlier and he said that his people will settle near Hobson’s Point. My Clan will do likewise, so I was wondering if you could teach one of them so they could pass it on.”
“I see,” Verdan said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as he considered the question. It was a good idea, and furthering the cooperation between humans and Fwyn was a worthy goal in Verdan’s mind. “One other is fine. They can pass it on themselves.”
“Thank you, Master!” Dirk flashed him a broad grin. “I’ll go fetch her now.”
Ciaran had arrived while they were talking and taken a seat, with Maeve and Osran joining as Dirk hurried off into the camp.
“So, I thought now would be a good time to review your progress,” Verdan said, looking at Ciaran and Maeve. “Are you encountering any issues?”
“I struggle with the visualisation,” Ciaran said, shifting slightly before sighing and continuing. “I can’t keep it running without focusing on it either.”
“Normal problems, as both things take a lot of skill,” Verdan said quickly, not wanting Ciaran to be disheartened. “Practice will get you past any issues you have on those fronts. Hard work is all you need to progress.”
Ciaran nodded, reassured, so Verdan turned to Maeve and gestured for her to go next.
“I have the same issues, but I think I’ve made some progress in the last few days,” Maeve said proudly.
“Excellent news. Tell me once you can do both reliably and we can move on from there,” Verdan said, giving her an encouraging smile.
Ciaran would never be a good Wizard. He lacked the mental flexibility for it, and Maeve wasn’t much better. She, at least, had the potential to become a novice, but that would take a lot of hard work.
The life of a Chosen didn’t seem to lend itself to long periods of meditation, so Verdan didn’t hold out much hope, but he hoped to be surprised.
“The reason I asked you both to join us is that I will be going over the first steps with Osran, and it may help for you to hear them again,” Verdan explained before turning to the Chosen in question. “Now, the first step is to learn to sense your Aether. I want you to close your eyes and slow your breathing….”
-**-
Some time later, Verdan excused himself from the firepit, leaving the three Chosen sat silently around it, each working hard to master the techniques he’d passed on.
At this point, it was down to them to master using the spiral passively and the proper visualisation. Verdan could do neither for them.
Moving over to his wagon, Verdan saw Dirk waiting for him with a young woman, who must have been maybe a year or two older than Dirk.
“Master, this is Sinead Taggstar. She is the leader of the clansfolk who’ve chosen to come south with me,” Dirk said, introducing her as Verdan walked over.
Sinead was a short woman with the usual dark hair of the Kranjir, though hers was cropped short on the sides, and dark eyes.
“A pleasure to meet you,” Verdan said, wondering as he did why someone so much younger than the others was in charge.
“And you, Wizard Blacke,” Sinead said in a thickly accented soprano. “Thank you for this opportunity.”
“Not at all. I admire any attempts to bring different races together,” Verdan said before holding up a finger. “I will say that I approve of you spreading this knowledge throughout your Clan, however, if I find it has been misused, I will place the blame on your shoulders.”
Verdan wasn’t sure exactly how this knowledge could be misused or abused, but he wanted to make his standpoint on it very clear from the start.
Sinead nodded in response, her expression serious as she met his gaze. “I understand, and we will treat this knowledge properly.”
“Good, in the case, let’s begin,” Verdan said, muttering a spell to draw three slabs of rock up out of the ground for them to sit on.
-**-
Verdan ended up switching between the two groups for the whole evening, helping them all push forward with what they needed to learn.
Ideally, they would all make good progress on this trip, and it was a good opportunity to spend some time making sure that happened.
Once Verdan was back in Hobson’s Point, he would have a lot less time to spend on individual training.
When they set off the next day, Verdan rode in the open-topped cargo area of his wagon, using a few crates to form both somewhere to sit and a table.
It was cramped, but with most of the goods the caravan was carrying were held elsewhere, there was just enough space for him.
Opening the box he’d brought with him, Verdan cast a ward to keep the wind away before pulling out the artifacts and notes that he’d acquired.
The notes he had from the tower down at Hobson’s Point had given him a good starting point, but he’d stalled with his understanding after a certain point.
Now, however, he had more real examples of what the sigils looked like, and a quick test of the light globe that Keeper Thullman had given him showed it was in working order.
Cutting off the flow of Aether to the globe, Verdan waited for it to fade before pulling out several blank sheets and recording all the different sigils that he could see.
The globe might be covered in sigils, but there were only actually a few individual types that were repeated.
Once he had a good recording of them, he’d do the same with the damaged metal box he had, and then perhaps even with the Automaton.
He had a lot of time to kill on the way back, and with his gathering spiral finally in a good place, it was time to work out how this new language of sigils worked.
Leaning in to peer down at the fine engraving on the globe, Verdan started doing his best to copy down the sigils he could see.